Chapter 136: Chapter 136

The next day brought out another lesson of PMC with Professor Elius putting them through a brief set of drills. The dreaded bees had a new, larger, and green brethren added to their ranks, which could only be removed with an attack spell.

For some students, this proved worse than the blue or red ones, as they quickly ran out of steam midway through the drills and needed to spend considerable time replenishing their Mana.

The richer students actually even drank Mana potions to save time on recovery, so they could jump back into the drill with renewed vigor. The key was learning to pace yourself, as the green bees would accept even a light attack as a success. This meant there was no point in launching a massive fireball at them when a mere spark of a firebolt would suffice.

Lily found this lesson surprisingly easy, as even the stardust from a zero result would destroy a green bee. Her Nebula Veil, when used offensively, was also capable of swatting them or crushing them, providing an even easier method of attack.

"How much do you want to bet there will be a fourth color bee that needs a strong spell to defeat?" Lily asked her friends while trying their best to recover their Mana.

"I never bet when I know I'll lose," Arthur snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were a bee for every color of the rainbow!"

"Really?" Hana replied. "I don't think they can add that many varieties, unless they plan to introduce a medium version of attack and defense."

"My gut says there will be a 'dodge only' one, probably orange," Arthur responded.

"Gods, I hope not…" Lily whined.

"Agreed," Lotte chimed in. "Now that I can actually defend myself, I don't want to jump around like a cornered rat."

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed it would be a 'dodge recommended' bee, so if you're confident in your defense, you can block it instead," Lily replied.

"Logically, that would make sense," Thomas agreed. "You've got the strongest defenses in our entire class; it would be silly to have you waste more energy than needed."

"Where I'd much rather dodge," Arthur said.

"Same," Hana agreed. "I wouldn't mind them adding a bee that needs to be disabled, then I could use my flash spell."

Thomas nodded. "Now that's an interesting idea. There are a few lightning spells based on stunning rather than damage." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel_fіre.net

"How's that working out for you?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah, it must be tough learning a whole new type of magic without a bloodline to guide you," Hana said.

"It's not great," Thomas admitted. "I keep thinking I should branch out rather than focus down, but I don't want to become a jack of all trades, master of none…"

"But oftentimes better than a master of one," Lotte quickly added. "I guess it's all about finding the sweet spot that best suits you. I'm in a terrible position if I can't melt or poison something."

"To be fair, I don't think there are many things that can survive an acid bath," Thomas replied. "But I understand your point. I just sometimes wish I didn't need to make the choice myself and had a bloodline telling me what to do."

"Speaking from experience, it doesn't really tell me much," Lotte replied, looking at the other three demis in her group.

"I've got weak blood, so I've heard diddly squat," Arthur answered.

"I've had a few moments of inspiration, although I've got two bloodlines and they've given conflicting advice," Hana answered next.

"It's complex and takes me a long time to truly understand it," Lily replied, trying her best to blend truth and lie.

"I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side," Thomas chuckled.

[Perhaps we should offer Thomas a spell scroll next. While he lacks a bloodline to resonate with, it might give him a push in overcoming his analysis paralysis.]

Lily silently agreed with Arakil. While she wasn't as close to Thomas as Lotte, she didn't want to watch him suffer . Plus, she knew that this was one of the few ways Arakil could amuse himself when he wasn't busy helping her.

Maybe I can give it to him after our shared Hearthcraft lesson.

During their downtime, Lily had also explained the principles behind that class to her other friends and how it might help them with situations exactly . If they could be as efficient as possible, they would have the staying power to keep going for much longer.

Arthur seemed indifferent about it, while Thomas looked interested and seemed quite glad that he had picked it. He had yet to attend his first lesson for it, and now seemed quite eager.

The afternoon Spellcasting Fundamentals class was on darkness or shadow magic. It was slightly more interesting than the other classes because the professor had hinted at what they could expect to find deeper in the dungeon.

The reason for this was that he had outright stated that most of the utility spells would be useless on the first floor, as the undead dungeon minions didn't rely on sight to see you. However, being under the cover of darkness would be particularly beneficial on the deeper floors, allowing one to bypass many threats or even provide safer shelter.

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The magic items were also quite interesting, with a cloak giving an almost identical effect to the shadow talismans she'd crafted under Arakil's guidance. There was also a pair of glasses that let you see in the dark, which was the highlight for many students.

That evening, Lily and Lotte spent some time going over apothecary lessons, as tomorrow would be their first Alchemy class. Lily had kept stressing that this much preparation was probably not needed at all, but Lotte was being quite the worrywart about it.

Lily tried her best to calm the girl down and offer any advice she could on handling ingredients, both in preparation and preservation.

To make things enjoyable for herself, she was also trying to use telekinesis as much as possible, hoping to further improve her multitasking capabilities. Lily still couldn't get the image of Professor Melina having endless spells going off around her house, seemingly automating everything to her convenience.

"You know… You could probably use telekinesis on the vials," Lily pointed out. "They are made to handle all sorts of potions and concoctions, so I think they can handle a bit of your natural Mana."

Lotte pondered it for a moment before agreeing to try it. Lily even offered one of her own flasks as a "sacrifice" to prove how confident she felt. It took Lotte a few times again to cast the spell, but eventually the flask was floating upwards.

The two stared at it, with Lily trying her best to listen and watch for any signs of it corroding away, but nothing happened. Lotte was both thrilled and slightly annoyed.

"Damn, I guess that means I need to learn this spell," she whined, although Lily could tell she wasn't being serious from her tone.

"Just remember to stick to bottles, flasks, and vials. If you melt a precious herb, I'll never forgive you!" Lily warned, half in jest.

"Yes, ma'am," Lotte replied teasingly.

Lily had Lotte try out a few other things; her cauldron was also a valid target, although admittedly, there wasn't much use in that. If she had an enchanted ladle, she might have been able to use it, but Lily couldn't even imagine the amount of Mana required to continuously stir it in that fashion.

It would be better to create a glyph in that case. Or use a stronger spell.

Araki had confirmed that there were stronger versions of telekinesis that didn't have the same restrictions. However, until Lily mastered her two opposing Astral spells, he was reluctant to reveal it to her.

Fortunately, Lily felt similarly, and by cheating, she would only be harming herself. Even if she was capable of learning the advanced version of the spell, she would miss out on the practice the inferior one forced her to do. Lily would miss out on efficiency, multicasting, holding spells, and possibly more, not to mention being unable to use the advanced version in her class without raising suspicion.

It's a marathon, not a race, Lily reminded herself.

It was the final day of classes for the week, which not only meant another trip into the dungeon but also that it was almost the weekend!

Unfortunately for some, this was not a double lesson, which Lily and Lotte already knew, as they had used the open slot for their alchemy lesson.

Still, even if it was only a short trip this time, everyone couldn't hold in their excitement at seeing if they'd improved since the last time.

Their first surprise upon passing through the barrier was that the layout of the room was entirely different than before. That led directly into Alice's first part of the lesson.

"The dungeon can shift and change," Alice warned the class. "There are rules to its behavior, like the first floor will never be a jungle, but the first room won't always contain skeletons."

Alice opened the door to the first room, and they were immediately greeted by the grand ballroom, where they had their final lesson.

"Damn, I asked for the throne room…" Alice grumbled, Lily barely catching it before she cleared her throat and moved on to her original topic. "As you can see, never expect things to always be the same!"

Alice had the class filter into the room, which was a lot easier this time due to the lack of Familiars present. Almost everyone had chosen to keep their Familiars unsummoned ever since learning the corresponding spells from Headmaster Fabrelis; it just made day-to-day life far easier.

Lily was obviously the exception, as Arakil couldn't actually be unsummoned and his presence was seen as entirely beneficial since he never cried for food or needed to be carried around. Yona was another one, as Thomas still struggled to get the cat to listen to even his simplest requests.

When everyone was in the room, people started gravitating towards their groups from last time until Alice clapped her hands loudly and told them to stop.

"Just like the dungeon changes, so must you! New groups this time, nobody from the previous groups!" Alice declared.

There were some grumbles, but new groups began to form quickly. Lily ended up in a group with Hana and another girl, while Thomas teamed up with Arthur and another boy. Lotte, on the other hand, drew the short end of the stick and ended up with two brand new faces, Lily feeling slightly guilty for her friend.

Lily had made no real advancements with Starburst or Nebula Veil, so she gave a pretty much repeat performance of the last time. Being teamed up with Hana, she got to witness her wind shield in action while she also fired piercing beams of light for attack.

The new girl they picked up used exclusively ice spells. As if taking a page from Hana, she created shields of ice to block attacks, while her offense was either razor-sharp ice shards or piercing icicle drills.

Lily was quite surprised by the display, especially the shields, as she thought ice would be fragile and unable to block such heavy blows. Together, the three managed to make short work of their opponents and ended the lesson on a high note.

This time, there was no competition, but Alice praised everyone for the improvements they had made since the last time. Looking around, you could see that the groups were a lot more balanced this time, with nearly equal amounts of Brassbound missing from each cluster.

Of course, despite there being no competition, Hana still strutted up to Arthur and confidently declared victory. While they were arguing, Lily realized they had defeated two more Brassbound, making it an extremely close competition.

Thomas' lightning is terrific against them. I wonder how Lotte did.

The result was more average, with Lotte's two partners looking slightly disgruntled. Lotte, however, looked extremely happy, so Lily could only assume that she did well. They reunited while Alice was escorting them out of the dungeon, and finally, they got to talk about what transpired.

"My two partners weren't much, but I didn't really care. I got to get my revenge against those stupid metal monsters," Lotte said with a grin.

"Did your new defense spell work?" Lily asked curiously.

"Did it ever! I don't think I could have asked for a better spell. Not only did it block their attacks, but it seemed to make their arms rust in response."

"Wait, it can counterattack?" Lily asked in surprise.

"Yeah, it looks like it's retaliatory in some way. I never noticed it against the bees, but it was doing something to the Brassbound when they hit me. It must be like how even the telekinesis spell is affected by my Mana."

"Doesn't that mean you're potentially burning your skin when you coat yourself?" Lily asked with concern in her eyes.

"Nope!" Lotte replied confidently and reassuringly. "That's the best part, it hasn't hurt me at all. Heck, I've even tried touching stuff with my hands coated in it, and it's never done anything strange."

To emphasize her point, she even touched Lily's shoulder with her petrified hand. Lily hadn't even noticed her casting the spell, and the sudden surprise caused her to let out a tiny yelp.

"See? Nothing," Lotte replied with a cheeky grin.

Lily pouted but was otherwise unharmed. She wondered if this was part of Arakil's plan or something unexpected, and couldn't wait to ask him some questions.

But first it's alchemy class. I wonder how this professor will compare to Miss Camilla.